The City of Columbia’s Public Works Department has been updating its ADA Sidewalk Transition Plan every year since 2018. Projects are in the works on streets throughout the city, including in Greektown at the University of Missouri.
Rilee Malloy, vice president of public relations for the Panhellenic Association, said the Greektown sidewalk project was initially started by the PHA Accessibility Team in 2021 with plans to independently raise money.
“The initial goal of the project was fundraising,” Malloy said. “But after a while Mizzou and the City of Columbia agreed to take on most of the cost.”
Public Works has agreed to share costs with PHA to complete the sidewalk accessibility project. Allison Anderson, Engineering Manager with Public Works, says one of the main goals of the project is to fill in gaps that do not currently have sidewalk on Curtis Avenue, a prominent street in Greektown.
She says beyond Curtis Avenue, the entirety of Greektown’s sidewalks will have improvements made.
“We walked the whole site and just identified places where the sidewalk needed to be repaired," Anderson said.
Malloy says the goal of this project is that Greektown becomes a more inclusive environment, especially for those in need of mobility accommodations.
“We want to ensure that anyone who wants to join the Mizzou and FSL community has the ability to do so without barriers,” Malloy said.
The project’s target budget is about $350,000 according to the City of Columbia’s website, and according to MU PHA has contributed $17,000 to that.
Beyond Greektown, Public Works has multiple plans for upcoming projects on streets including Vandiver Drive, Grindstone Parkway and Ash Street. Sidewalk and street improvements include repairing curb ramps, filling in sidewalk gaps, replacing sidewalks and upgrading intersections with pedestrian crossings. Anderson says she updates the sidewalk transition plan each year with the completed repair projects.
The City of Columbia’s website says the purpose of the plan is to focus on the accessibility of pedestrian facilities within the public right-of-way, such as sidewalks, curb ramps, signalized pedestrian crossings, and bus shelters. Anderson says citizens using wheelchairs struggle on some Columbia roads.
"There's people in wheelchairs that will use the bike lane, you know, because there isn't sidewalks,” Anderson said. "They'll be able to use a sidewalk to get to where they want to go.”
She says that beyond the needs of those using wheelchairs and walkers, the sidewalk improvements are also an effort to make Columbia more walkable and bikeable.
While Anderson did not provide a specific timeline for many of the sidewalk and street improvement projects set to be completed this year, the Greektown project has a more stringent time requirement. Malloy says the plan is to start construction immediately after graduation with the goal of finishing by the time sorority recruitment starts in early August.